In my fourth reading of A Whole
New Mind written by Daniel Pink, Pink began his break down of the six
senses. Starting off with Design, Pink is devoting a chapter to each of the six
senses in which he describes how you can work towards adapting to these senses.
Pink talked about how design is a way for humans to shape their environments to
give meaning to our lives. Design is a classic whole-minded aptitude. It is a
combination of utility and significance. A graphic designer must whip up a
brochure that is easy to read. That’s utility. Her brochure must also transmit
ideas that words themselves cannot convey. That’s significance.
I think this idea is very cool and
something that I had not really considered until reading this chapter. People
use a large variety of tools for very brief periods of time. Say 1% of the time
a person is judging how well the toaster works, while 99% of the time a person
is judging it purely based on its appearance. If you want success from an idea or product, it needs to have
some visual appeal to the customer.
After Design, Pink continued on
with Story. To find success in storytelling, Pink really recommends listening.
The best way to master story telling is to hear great storytellers. Pink is all
about this idea that stories exist where
high concept and high touch intersect. Story is high concept because it
sharpens our understanding of one thing by showing it in the context of
something else. Story is high touch because stories almost always pack an
emotional punch.
It will be interesting to see how Pink continues to describe the other
four senses and what tips he gives to achieve them.
I wonder what it means that our economy has developed to this level, a level where products are only differentiated by style since the substance is essentially the same. Do we need highly designed toasters (and toilet brushes--he mentions toilet brushes, right?)? I find Pink very compelling...but also a bit troubling.
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